HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The second-ranked Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team begins the away portion of its 2020-21 slate Tuesday night when it travels to Hartsville, South Carolina, to take on Coker University in early mid-week South Atlantic Conference action. Tip-off from inside the DeLoach Center is scheduled for 8 p.m.
 
Not skipping a beat from their remarkable 2019-20 run, the Railsplitters got their 2020-21 campaign off to a strong start Saturday evening with an 80-62 win over visiting Newberry College inside B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena. Tuesday night's affair will feature a pair of season-opening victors as the host Cobras were also winners over the weekend, defeating Carson-Newman 67-53 at home.
 
How to Follow
The SAC matchup will be streamed live via SAC Live on Stretch Internet and live statistics of the contest can be followed by visiting CokerCobras.com. As usual, in-game updates will be available on LMU Railsplitter athletics' official Twitter account, @LMURailsplitter.
 
Railsplitters on the Road
Since head coach Josh Schertz has been at the helm, LMU has gone 114-35 (.765) in true road games and completed three undefeated seasons at opposing team's venues. Last year, the Railsplitters were a perfect 12-0 in true road games after owning that same record on the road in 2017-18 and 2014-15. It's been 632 days since LMU's last true road defeat, a two-point setback (85-83) at Lenoir-Rhyne on March 2, 2019.
 
Taming the Wolves
In a rare season and conference opener against Newberry Saturday in Harrogate, the Railsplitters were dominant in the first half and shot 51.9 percent for the game. Connecting on 10 threes and holding the Wolves to 37.9 percent shooting in the 18-point triumph, LMU improved to 12-3 in SAC openers. With a trio of double-figure scorers, the Railsplitters scored 36 points in the paint, 14 on the fast break and 14 off of turnovers with seven steals. With only one returning starter in their lineup and without the exceptional services of preseason All-American guard Devin Whitfield, LMU assisted on 18 of its 28 made baskets. Leading 42-23 at halftime after shooting 55.2 percent in the opening 20 minutes of play, the Railsplitters led by as much as 25 with six-and-a-half minutes to go. LMU's first game in eight and a half months, Saturday's men's and women's basketball doubleheader marked the first home sporting event on campus since the night of Wednesday, March 11.
 
Staying Hot
Coming off their best season in terms of winning percentage (.970), the Railsplitters pushed their longest win streak in program history to 33 Saturday. The 33-straight victories are also the most consecutive by a SAC team and represent the longest active winning streak in all of college basketball. LMU has now won a 23-straight conference games after going an unblemished 22-0 in 2019-20 for its third undefeated SAC season in the last five years. Finishing 32-1 overall last year, the Railsplitters have dropped just one game in the last 627 days and 388 days have passed since LMU's last loss.
 
Saturday Standouts
Preseason All-American and preseason All-SAC First Team pick Cameron Henry led the Railsplitters against Newberry, reaching the 20-point mark for the sixth time in his career with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior guard also grabbed five rebounds and made a game-high four steals. Junior point guard Julius Brown had his 20th double-figure scoring game with 18 points on a 7-for-10 performance with five rebounds and zero turnovers. Senior guard Alex Dahling went 5-for-10 from three-point range for 15 points as he collected five boards and distributed a trio of assists. In his LMU debut, junior transfer forward Jordan Guest scored nine points and pulled down six rebounds. Making his first appearance on the court since Feb. 20, 2019, redshirt sophomore guard/forward Xavier Bledson tallied six points to go along with a team-leading seven boards and game-high six assists.  
 
National Recognition
Last week, the Railsplitters were tabbed as the No. 2 team in the nation in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Preseason Top 25. LMU was picked to repeat as SAC champions after being selected third in the Basketball Times NCAA Division II preseason top 20. The first regular season NABC Top 25 rankings will come out on Tuesday, Dec. 8.  
 
Preseason Accolades
Both Whitfield, the 2020 SAC Tournament MVP, and Henry, the reigning SAC Defensive Player of the Year, were selected as preseason All-Americans by Basketball Times. The all-region tandem also landed a spot on the preseason All-SAC First Team and are two of the top returning players in all of Division II basketball. Whitfield has scored 1,541 points in his collegiate career, while Henry led the conference in steals (71) and was second in rebounding (8.0 RPG) in 2019-20.
 
Versus the Cobras
The Railsplitters have never lost to Coker and are a perfect 14-0, owning a 7-0 record in Hartsville. Winning last season's pair of matchups by an average of 28.5 points, LMU has defeated the Cobras by an average of 25.1 points in the 14 meetings. In fact, only twice has Coker gotten within single digits of the Railsplitters during the 2014-15 season. LMU defeated the Cobras 92-61 at the DeLoach Center last November after a 48-19 second half, before earning an 86-60 home win over Coker this past January.
 
About LMU Basketball
The second-winningest Division II program of the 2010's (.845), the Railsplitters have won 13 total SAC titles since 2011. Selected as the top seed and host of the Division II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional Championship four of the last six years, LMU has ended the season ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 three times in the last five seasons. The only school in Division II to have reached 30 wins in five of the last six years, the Railsplitters are one of only four Division II programs to have recorded 20 wins or more for 11-straight seasons. LMU has notched at least 25 wins and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament nine of the last 10 seasons. Inside Tex Turner Arena the Railsplitters have registered the second-highest home court winning percentage in Division II basketball since 2010-11, going an impressive 153-11 (.933). The 153 home victories are the most among Division II programs in the last 10 years as LMU has posted three perfect seasons in Harrogate during that time.
 
About Coach Schertz
Since taking over the Railsplitter basketball program, coach Schertz has amassed an astonishing 319-65 record over 13 seasons. Schertz' career winning percentage of .831 is the second-highest of any head coach in men's college basketball at any NCAA level (minimum 10 seasons). He also ranks second among active head coaches with at least 10 years at the helm – Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern (.841) – after passing Gonzaga head coach Mark Few (.828) in 2019-20. On Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, coach Schertz reached his 300th career victory with a 76-64 conference home win over UVA Wise. Reaching the 300-win milestone in only 365 games as a head coach, the seven-time SAC Coach of the Year owns the second-most SAC victories with a phenomenal 201-36 (.848) league record.
 
About Coker
Picked to finish 11th in the league's preseason poll, the Cobras are one of four 1-0 teams in the 13-team SAC following the opening weekend of play. Downing a Carson-Newman squad that was selected ninth in the SAC's predicted order of finish, Coker held the visiting Eagles to 34 percent shooting, forced 21 turnovers, earned 14 steals and assisted on 17 of its 23 made field goals. The Cobras had three double-figure scorers led by redshirt junior forward Dakota Jennings' game-high 17 points and seven rebounds. Junior guard Chandler Lindsey scored 12 points and made a game-high five steals, while fellow junior guard Malcolm Kennedy had 10 points and Courtney Murrell Jr. eight points and four steals. Led by second-year head coach Jarred Merrill, Coker went 6-16 in conference play and 7-19 overall last season, finishing 11th in the then 12-team SAC.
 
Looking Ahead
Following Tuesday night's tilt, LMU returns from Thanksgiving and begins a four-game homestand Saturday, Nov. 28 when it hosts Tusculum University in a 4:30 p.m. tip-off. Next week, the Railsplitters will step out of league play and welcome Division III Greenville University (Ill.) to Tex Turner Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
 
LMU L Club
Register to become an L Club member today. All LMU L-Club members receive basketball season tickets with premium seating available through silver and platinum memberships. Additional membership benefits include discounts at community partner locations, exclusive e-mail communications, VIP basketball parking and Tex Turner Arena hospitality room access. Become an LMU L-Club member today by visiting LMURailsplitters.com.  
 
Stay Up to Date
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms - @LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram, for complete coverage of Railsplitter basketball throughout the 2020-21 season.